The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1887-06-18
A ToUOH OF NATURE.

That zone touch of nature makes the
world kin" is no doubt as true
4 sentiment to day as it was when
wrote it. Indeed it ls
much truer. Since the telegraph and
steam have brought all countries into
such close juxtaposition as to time, the
affairs of one become the affairs of all.
We were once chidden by a very able
and successful journalist for mixing up
our personal column people in Wash
Paris, London, Lexington and
senator and the president or
the presidents wife, NJ. Grevy, the
Prince of Wales, some young girl out
at service here at home, a county poll
tician or a staid and sober farmer.
Well, why mott There is enough of
Jefferson in this newspaper to hold all
as being born equal, to despise the
of title, and the Fictitious
accidents of fortune. Is not the whole
world kim And if it is not ought it
not to be? When we read OF occur
rences in Berlin or Vienna in the morn
ing paper almost before they happen,
by the clock, why shouldn't Louise of
Lorn, of bonny England, and Louise,
forlorn, of the neighborhood, appear
before the public in the same column!
1t is singular where a train of thought
will sometimes lead. 1t is like a forest
path. You take it thinking that it will
debouch at a certain place, but it leads
YOU some otherwhere. We began this
to write something about coffee, and
we seem to be straying rom the sub
iect. You see, a cup of coffee is second
nature now to millions of people in the
civilized and semi civilized regions OF
the earth, and the one touch OF nature
that made them all akin in this in
was the rise in the price OF their
favorite berry, caused primarily by the
speculation at Havre.
A Frenchman likes his coffee, and it
is not unnatural that he should choose
that article with which to start a boom
that has beaten the Kansas City real
estate boom clear out of sight. The
Yankee "caught on" as the boys say,
Immediately, and the scientific articles
filed with piculs, Pandang. Palem-
bang, Je-whang, "short CROP" "dimin-
ishing supply" etc., which appeared in
the Economist" the "Commerciai'
and the "Grocer's Review" were
formidable to look upon to the fellow
who desired to enjoy his infusion with
out thought of running into the vice of
extravaganza.
But, suddenly, last Monday, there
came a cataclysm as it were-a grand
collapse of the speculative ballooni a
sudden urn was given to the corner
Gentlemen who smiling over their
Mocha in the morning c~omplacently
said to their sweet Titles and Marias
that they might have that trip to
Europe, came back in the evening with
elongated faces and minus bank &C
counts. The villains who tor filthy
lucre had been willing TO turn the
poor, hard-worked mans necessity, q
cup of coffee, into a luxury, had met
the fate of all gamblers when a change
comes in the luck. To them the aromat.
&c bean had lost its SAVIOR. Twenty. one
and three tenths cents In the morning
and fifteen cents before the middle OF
the afternoon was enough to make ever
a denizen of Monte Carlo turn pale.
The crop was short, eh? Well, may
be a little. But when a hundred mil
lion housewives cut off one ration OF
coffee a day how long will it take to
discount the shortage? Then there il
parched corn and rye, not to say any.
thing of the Irishman's tay.
Those Havre and New York chaps
had heard of the Wichita boom, and
they wanted to make it all at ace
Had they been moderate in their win
nings we might all have continued te
believe that the crop was ever so short
Now we only know that a great many
gentlemen were a little too "long'
when the crash came, and as 'one toucl
of nature makes the whole world kin,
and as the natural man is altogether
bad, we shall not be surprised, despite
the usual gallantry of man, If there
will prove to be but little sympathy
with Tillie and Maria.